Churchill Archives Centre offers volunteer placements for those interested in a career in archives, records management or conservation.

Archives and records management volunteers

Churchill Archives Centre offers volunteer placements for those interested in a career in archives and/or records management. Placements are flexible and last one week or the equivalent in half- or full days spread over a longer period, up to five weeks.

Placements typically involve the following elements:

• an introduction to archival cataloguing
• a basic box listing or description task, probably on a new collection,
• answering some enquiries from researchers.
• shadowing the archivist or archives assistant on duty in the reading room and helping to fetch archive files for researchers,
• an introduction to records management,
• a basic records management task,
• an introduction to digital archives,
• an introduction to making copies of archives (reprographics), and
• a tour of the conservation workshop.

There may be the opportunity to assist with a group visit (e.g. preparing a small exhibition) depending on the timing of the placement.

Criteria for volunteers

• Volunteers must be aged 18 or over. We cannot offer work placements to sixth form volunteers.
• Volunteers must have:
  • a good standard of written English,
  • an interest in a career in archives and/or records management, and
  • enthusiasm to learn.

Placement timings and applications

Churchill Archive Centre offers two placements per year, one in the Easter vacation and the other in the Summer vacation.

To apply for one of the placements, please send a letter indicating why this opportunity is important to you to [email protected] and which placement (Easter, Summer or either) you’d be interested in. Letters should be received no less than one month before the placement you’re interested in (end of February and May respectively).

Placement expenses and benefits

We can offer a free lunch each day and travel expenses up to a maximum of £10 per day. Unfortunately we cannot offer accommodation.

Introduction days

Churchill Archives Centre also offers one introduction day per year. If you’re interested in archives and/or records management but our placements aren’t right for you for whatever reason, then this day may be for you instead.

The Centre’s archivists, archives assistants, and conservation team provide participants with a one-day, high-level introduction to archival cataloguing, records management, and conservation combined with opportunities to ask lots of questions. The content covered is essentially the same as that of a volunteer placement but without the practical element.

The next induction day will be held on 25th June 2026. Please contact [email protected] for further details and to sign up to attend.

Conservation volunteers

Placements for those interested in a career in conservation are flexible. Usually, they are dependent on the candidate being already on, or applying for, a conservation course.

Placements will involve the following elements:

• preservation packaging of collections containing archival materials, and
• making bespoke enclosures or simple boxes.
• Longer term placements may involve surface dry cleaning and simple paper repairs.

We can offer a free lunch each day and travel expenses up to a maximum of £10 per day. Unfortunately, we cannot offer accommodation, so volunteers must live within commuting distance of Cambridge.

We ask all potential conservation volunteers to come in for a brief tour of the Archives Centre, so they can see the working environment and discuss the placement further.

To find out more about conservation placements, please send an email marked for the attention of Sarah Lewery to [email protected].

A Word from Our Volunteers

The Archives volunteer placement has been extremely useful in giving me an insight into all key aspects of archiving and records management. All staff were incredibly welcoming and I received continual support throughout the placement. The records held at the Centre are quite notable and to be given the opportunity to gain practical experience in handling such materials has been highly rewarding.

The main element of the placement involves box-listing and cataloguing a particular accession, which provides a solid understanding of the procedure of archiving records for further research.

I would strongly recommend this placement to anyone seeking to gain their first experience in the archival sector (such as myself), or anyone wishing to explore a career in other areas of archival work which they had not previously explored. No other institution provides such a well-structured and organised programme.

Sully, Archives Volunteer

Volunteering at Churchill Archives Centre was a wonderful and very insightful experience. The programme was very well structured, allowing the volunteer to see all aspects of working in the archives sector. Not only did I get to do a cataloguing project and box listing (which was the main focus in the volunteer programme) but I also got an insight into aspects such as records management, copyright and digital archives, all of which were incredibly useful.  

The opportunity to closely work with the physical archive, the diaries of Anthony Fell, was such a valuable experience, because I gained knowledge of how the cataloguing process of an archive works, something you start to understand once you get to do it yourself. The task consists of reading the text and summarising key points such as important events, key names, personal remarks etc. mentioned by the author. Also, I particularly enjoyed reading room productions shadowing where you have to prepare archive files for readers, which involves finding and putting away archival material into boxes and shelves.  

The staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming which made the experience working in such a lovely team even greater. Overall, I definitely recommend this volunteering placement, especially to those who want get an understanding of how archivists work and who want to start a career in archives.  

Yulia, Archives Volunteer

I spent a week volunteering at the Churchill Archives Centre, where I worked on two main projects, supporting the centre to survey new records for potential inclusion in the College archives and box listing a new accession to the papers of Labour Politician Kay Andrews, who played an important role in heritage and education. It was extremely interesting learning the behind the scenes of archival work, including conservation and digital archives, whilst contributing to making valuable documentation accessible to the public and future researchers.  

I would recommend this volunteer week to anyone interested in archives and history! 

Charlotte, Archives Volunteer